Administrative structures, legal boundaries, and the spatial frameworks through which authority and jurisdiction are expressed. Governance data underpins how all other spatial data is organised, reported, and regulated.
Scope
- Administrative units: Municipalities, regions, nations, electoral districts, statistical zones
- Addresses: Official address assignments, their hierarchical structure, and spatial localisation
- Cadastral system: Land parcel boundaries, legal descriptions of ownership units
- Planning and zoning: Land use designations, conservation zones, protected area boundaries, building regulations
- Statistical units: Census tracts, enumeration areas, algorithmically generated grids (DGGS)
- Resource permits: Fishing quotas, extraction licences, environmental consents
Key Distinction: Governance vs Infrastructure
Governance describes legal and administrative definitions of space. Infrastructure describes physical assets within that space. A municipality boundary is governance; the roads inside it are infrastructure.
Leaves
- Addresses — Where is a property located by its official address?
- Administrative Units — Which administrative area does a location belong to?
- Cadastral Parcels — What are the legal boundaries of land?
- Geographical Names — What is the official name of a place?
Classical Theme Mappings
| Standard | Theme | Link |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 19115 | Boundaries | |Boundaries |
| ISO 19115 | Location | |Location |
| ISO 19115 | Planning/Cadastre | Cadastre |
| INSPIRE | Administrative Units | |Administrative Units |
| INSPIRE | Addresses | |Addresses |
| INSPIRE | Cadastral Parcels | |Cadastral Parcels |
| UN-GGIM | Administrative Boundaries | |Administrative Boundaries |